100 Nights of Summer
by littlecloudflower
Summary: My response to the Summer Nights challenge on Beloved Enemy.
1. Moonlight

#4 Moonlight

_Look for me by moonlight_

_Watch for me by moonlight_

_I'll come to thee by moonlight_

_Though Hell should bar the way._

~Alfred Noyes (The Highwayman)

Filia sat at her desk, staring at the moonlight flowing in from the windows to the sealed envelope. Her hands shook as she clenched the quill pen, writing the address of Seyruun. Amelia Wil Tesla Seyruun.

When had been the last time she wrote to her? She couldn't remember. Usually she just wrote to Lina and trusted the letter would be read to all of them. But this was a personal letter, one she could not possibly send to Lina.

"I'm terribly sorry I cannot come to your wedding..."

If she could mail this at all, that is.

"...because of various circumstances that I cannot control..."

She was going to die tonight, wasn't she?

She couldn't possibly mail this.

Tap. Tap.

Automatic-reflex-to-a-certain-Mazoku-tapping-you-on-the-shoulder activating...

"Namagomi!" Filia-swinging-her-mace-and-missing-cliché activating...

"Awfully violent at night, aren't we, Filia-san?" Xelloss-commenting-smugly-to-get-Filia- annoyed-cliché activating...

...All activated.

Before Filia could swing again, she met his dangerous and threatening eyes.

Of course. OF COURSE it's going to be HIM! Out of ALL the people and creature in the WORLD, it just HAD to be HIM!

"Coming to assassinate me, huh, namagomi?"

The Lord of Nightmares was surely getting a good laugh out of this...

"What could you possibly be talking about?" Innocent smile. Of course, of course...

Before THAT happens, though, she needed to get at least ONE hit in on that oh-so-innocent face!

"Excuse me, Filia-san." Xelloss poked her wrist, stopping her in mid-swing with only one finger. "But shouldn't you entertain your guests instead of trying to kill them? And that mace-thing is really getting old..."

"Why should I even bother if you're just going to kill me anyway?" Filia shook her wrist free.

"What makes you so ready to believe that?" Xelloss twitched slightly. "That stupid divination/ prophecy thing you did the other day?"

"It's the word of the gods, idiot! Nothing you'd understand, but it's sacred!" Filia added, "Not to mention you had your eyes on Val ever since the war started..."

"There was a war? Why, do tell me about it...I would have joined the party!" Xelloss smiled.

"Don't. Even. Try. You KNOW there's a war! Okay, so no one had started firing yet, but if the constant street brawls among humans and the cold Ryuuzoku-Mazoku face-offs are ANY indication, yes, I would say this is a WAR!

"Which was why Amelia-san and Zelgadis-san decided to hurry up with their wedding in case they..." Filia trailed off. She prayed with all her heart that they wouldn't...

"Oh, what is this?" Filia's head snapped up to see Xelloss tapping her envelop.

"Give that back!" Of course, this made Xelloss even more curious as he pulled it out of her reach and made an oh-so-mature face at her.

Xelloss unsealed the envelop with a burst of energy. "Hm..." he read, "'I'm terribly sorry..." He turned to face Filia. "Circumstance you cannot control? Surely you don't mean your possible 'death'?"

"Of course that's what I meant! Or have you some other reasons for coming?" Filia challenged. She knew Xelloss. Xelloss always had a secret mission hiding up his sleeves. Except this time she was pretty sure she knew what his mission was, and she was prepared to fight it.

"Ah, yes. I was getting to that." Xelloss took a sip of Filia's tea, kept under the moonlight by the window, much to Filia's annoyance. "I have good news! Lord Beastmaster has granted me permission to let you live if you'll join us! Isn't that nice of her!" Xelloss grinned mischievously, setting down his (HER!) cup temporarily.

Filia slumped...ahem...sat down on the ground.

_Well, that's surprising. _

Not the part about her granting permission to let her live IF she joined the Mazoku. And yes, she heard the "if."

It's just that...

"You...asked her?"

"Well..." He put his left hand under his chin in a classic thinking pose...

"I suppose I did!" ...And lit up like a light bulb.

"But...why?"

"Why do you think?" Xelloss opened one eye challengingly.

"That's a secret?" Totally random guess.

"Correct!" Xelloss closed his eye again cheerily.

"Heh," Filia huffed, standing up again. "Of course."

Her theory was correct. Xelloss ALWAYS had a secret mission. This time it's no different. It's always secret.

He must had some hidden motive on the nights he came by the moonlight to annoy her. And he must have some motive to get her to the Mazoku's side, even though he knew perfectly how impossible that is. Why would she want to have him always by her side?

...

IMPOSSIBLE! Filia screamed to the obviously dead part of her brain. Ugh, NO ONE would want that namagomi around!

Right, back to the point. Filia had, in conclusion, decided not to dwell on the reason. But she knew she had to fight to the death against whatever reason he had behind him. The gods have willed it.

"And you said we were not at war..." She narrowed her eyes at him.

"We're not, Filia."

"So it's Val, then..."

"True, true. I can tell you that much. She did indeed want you dead to get that little rogue. But if you come willingly, it won't be an issue, would it? I wouldn't imagine you not bringing him along."

All he said made sense, but she couldn't help wondering but why he had let her live, even though she just chose not to. Didn't they hate each other?

Well, Filia mused, that could be the exact reason. He can feed off her negative energies. Well, she wasn't going to give it to him.

Perhaps, though...She had hoped it was...something else...

A flash of midnight black, and he was right in before her eyes. Way too close for comfort.

Xelloss smiled cheerfully as Filia tried not to look at him unless the blood vessels in her cheeks decided to

rebel against her. Xelloss leaned forward.

"Don't mind me! Just keep on considering it, okay? I wouldn't want to distract you..."

"Who said I was even..."

But a sudden coldness on her lips stopped her, freezing her thoughts and the hand reaching for the back of her skirt.

She stared into midnight. Midnight without moon or stars. The darkness beyond twilight.

Xelloss broke away smugly. "So," he grinned out of the corner of his eyes, "Did that help you in considering it?"

And that jogged Filia out of her trance. She took her hands off of his shoulder (What were they doing there in the first place?) and finished her mission of taking out her mace.

"Namagomi! Get out of my house!"

"So what do you say, Filia?" Xelloss dodged skillfully, looking almost piteously at the pottery getting destroyed, which had nothing to do with him, of course.

"I'll NEVER join your horrible race!"

"What about Val, then?" Xelloss smirked triumphantly, like he had just pulled out his trump card and no one can beat him now.

"Ha! You underestimated us!" Filia smirked triumphantly back, still wielding her mace. "Miss Lina taught him magic! He can fend for himself! Working under Miss Lina may never be a great lifestyle, but I KNOW even you Mazoku cannot touch him with Miss Lina in the way!"

"Oh, really?"

"Yes, so I'll never join you! Now get out of my house!" She swung her mace again.

...And bashed him on the head.

Her dream came true.

Her nightmare.

Xelloss always dodged. ALWAYS.

Xelloss grinned like the Cheshire Cat. He grinned like his life depended on it. He waved his hand in front of Filia's startled face.

"You know, you are truly amusing when angry."

"I hate you!" Reflexes never fail.

He gripped his staff tightly.

"You're wrong, Filia," Xelloss laughed strangely. "First of all, you don't hate me."

"Oh yeah?" She challenged, bashing him on the face a second time. Then a third time.

Always fighting to the end. That was what the gods were trying to tell her. Val was safe. She could let out all of her emotions now. And she could not do that without her beloved mace-sama.

Nor could she do it without her beloved enemy.

"Second of all," Xelloss continues, unaffected by the smashes. "It's not 'circumstance you cannot control.' You had a choice."

Xelloss was also wrong, as proved at that moment. Filia's prophecy was fulfilled.

The clouds moved in as the moonlight disappeared into the midnight black.

Too bad she wasn't around long enough to laugh at him for it.

_I'll come to thee by moonlight_

_Though Hell should bar the way._


	2. Old Habits

#23 Old Habits

Xelloss watched the dark green tea leaves swirl around carefully, pondering the question. It was a difficult question. One that required a lot of thought.

Since it was Filia asking this, it probably didn't have any hidden traps behind it. She was always so innocent and naive.

But, admittedly, she was full of surprises.

Xelloss remembered the time they first met. He had thought she was just another dragon girl, and would probably cower disgustedly in front of him. And if not, at least be silently afraid of him, like dear old Milgazia a few years before. But when she met him, she put a barbed wire fence around him, and dared to call him "Namagomi!" Such disrespect! NO one dared to insult him! Okay, maybe Lina would. But even she had the common sense to be respectful of his power. Filia had no such thing.

_At least I have her fooled!_ He remembered consoling himself, but he just could not suppress that slight twitch of the eyes, that slight crack in his always-perfect facade.

But how naive she was! He could remember her shocked expression when she found out he betrayed Lina. And then later, when he saved her (because...he was saving her for other purposes...like the magic fusing to defeat Darkstar...Of course...), her shocked expression was so amusing! And even though she hated him, she still ran to his side when he was hurt. He had much worse, so seeing her coming to her like that was hilarious!

Of course, Lina wasn't fooled at all. And even though Filia probably wanted more than anything to hit him with her mace for his betrayal, she still took in Lina's words and helped him.

Ah, yes! She was always full of surprises! Xelloss grinned at the tea leaves, remembering his delightful little toy. Always so full of energy.

Yet today, when he barged into her tea shop two hundred years after the Darkstar campaign, she looked up at him with tired eyes that have seen too much, and asked,

_Why did you come back?_

_Why did you come back after all these years?_

_After everyone else has left, why did you come back?_

He learned a few years back that Filia had tried to stop this war. Val had been with her the whole time. And he had died in a crossfire between light and darkness. And following his death, he had seen Filia briefly on one of his massacres. Even after the centuries, he had not forgotten that innocent, idealist, surprising, and energetic dragon girl he once knew.

She walked away from the battlefield. Her ideal of peace died with Val. She gave up.

How fitting. Valgaav started her fight, and Val had ended it.

He had been curious. So whenever he could spare a minute, he checked on her.

_She had changed._ Thought Xelloss as he watched Filia closing up her shop.

_She had changed._ Thought Xelloss as he watched Filia locking away her mace.

_She had changed._ Thought Xelloss thought as he watched Filia staring at the embers in the fireplace from her place on the rocking chair, holding a picture of Val to her heart.

But as she asked him the question today, he could see something shining in her clear blue eyes...Something that set her apart from all the other dragons...Something that reminded him so much of the Filia he knew.

Was it hope?

_Or perhaps she hadn't changed at all._ Thought Xelloss as he watched her pour herself a cup of tea.

After much consideration, Xelloss decided on an answer.

"That's a secret!" He grinned.

As they say, old habits die hard.


End file.
